What I See I Am
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
“Surely”, is a key word here. Surely means absolute, it is set in stone, it is done, you can count that it is true. So the Psalm states that I am immersed in goodness. The goodness that comes to me is not now and then, or a maybe but goodness is all of the time, every day, all of my life. I am always in goodness, even if it is not my choice to be in goodness.
“Goodness”, is a key word. Goodness means that all things in my life are good. I may not quite interpret them in that vein, but they are. All things are right, they may not appear to me to be, but in God’s eye they are.
“Mercy” is a key word. Mercy means that even though I may think I stray from God or God’s path, I am always forgiven and immersed in God. No matter what or who I am God sees the goodness and forgives me for not seeing it.
Further the Psalm doesn’t say I have to earn goodness or do something to receive mercy, it says it is always with me and will always be with me now and in the future. For the Psalm doesn’t say “May” follow me, it says “Shall”follow me. Shall is an absolute. When law says “shall” then you can count on that action to be done. When God says “Shall” the action can not be less than man’s law.
Goodness and Mercy are tied to me tighter than the air around me according to the Psalm and are more constant in my life than air is.
The Twenty Third Psalm
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He
leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for His name' sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell
in the House of the Lord forever.
The Psalm goes on to point out that this is not a temporary promise God has made it is permanent. “......shall follow me all the days of my life.” This statement assures us that God is not in the business of giving and taking. God is. Therefore, Goodness and Mercy are ours always “all the days” not some of the days or when God decides but all of the days, each and every one.
“...of my life.” These three words state that Goodness and Mercy will be with me forever. God does not know death. God demonstrated that with Jesus arising from the “dead”. “My life” means that I am provided with Goodness and Mercy always forever.
The Psalm explains our relationship with God in this statement also. God promises and provides but the words “...shall follow me...” define our responsibility to enjoy Goodness and Mercy.
We have earlier defined the word shall as the absolute it is. “Follow me” means God is always making Goodness and Mercy available but it is our responsibility to accept it. God makes sure we always have it available but we must recognize it and accept it.
If we continue to punish our self for what ever reason or continue to ask for Goodness and Mercy, God can’t give it to us unless we accept it. The neat thing is we can accept it all day every day forever.
What I see I Am
Copyright Ronald O. Masters II, 2010 All Rights Reserved Copying is permitted if the author is credited.
